“Fuck!”
Thunder rumbled through the sky outside the council chambers as Auraelia slammed her hands down on the table, frustration rolling off her in waves.
“Majesty,” the sound of Ser Aeron’s deep baritone cut through the field of red that was creeping into her vision. She could feel her magic swirling just beneath the surface of her skin. The static of her lightning made the hair on her arms stand on end.
As she lifted her head, she was met with the sharp intensity of Ser Aeron’s amber gaze. His brow was furrowed, and his lips had set into a hard line. Though with all the severity of his expression, concern swirled in his eyes.
Auraelia blew a breath through pursed lips and bobbed her head to let him know she was okay.
The sound of thunder lessened, and the clouds began to part as she sat back down in her mother’s—inher—chair.
It’d only been two months since her mother had been poisoned.
Two months since she’d regrettably walked away from the one person that could ground her with a single touch.
In those months, she and her council had come up with little to nothing when it came to Davina. And that day had been no different.
What theydid knowwas that she was attempting to extend her reach into other courts.
Mister Aramis had been going from court to court, enlisting the help of his many contacts throughout Ixora to ensure that Auraelia could keep tabs on her cousin. But even with the extra sets of eyes, Davina was practically a ghost.
No one could pin her down in one spot for long enough to get intel, and Auraelia had a feeling it was because of the person who helped her escape all those nights ago.
She needed someone,anyone, to give her some kind of lead to help her through this mess.
She’d already lost her mother, and the ache in her chest was a constant reminder of the love lost when she pushed Daemon away. It didn’t matter that she did it to try and save him and his people. To saveherpeople. Shemissedhim. But every time she let her thoughts travel back to him, the chasm in her heart opened wider and the hold on her magic slipped.
She needed to focus before she lost her kingdom, too.
“My apologies. Where were we?” Auraelia leaned against the carved back of her chair, the cool wood seeping through the thin linen of her tunic as she listened to the advice from the council.
As the meeting came to a close and people filtered out of the space, Auraelia closed her eyes and sighed. Between the death of her mother and everything that had happened since, she hadn’t slept much and it was starting to catch up to her.
Her head throbbed as a migraine began to set in, and she pressed her fingers into her temples in an attempt to alleviate the building pressure.
She’d started getting them around the time her world came crumbling down around her, and they’d become more frequent as her powers continued to grow and expand.
When was the last time I ate or drank anything?
Ser Aeron had stayed behind, the concern in his eyes from earlier never ebbing, and she could feel that intense gaze on her face.
Keeping her eyes closed, Auraelia braced herself for the question that she knew she needed to ask. She’d been avoiding it for months and couldn’t put it off any longer.
After her mother’s death, everyone in the council had been questioned extensively about their knowledge when it came to the Court of Garnet. They’d known about the former queen’s half-sister—Lady Verena—the entire time, but they had only found out about Davina after Auraelia had traveled to Kalmeera.
Every single person on the council had known that Davina had been conspiring to take the crown, and every one of them kept that information from her.
She knew she couldn’t lay all of the blame at their feet, but it didn’t make them any less guilty.
The one person who hadn’t been questioned was Ser Aeron. In the days of her catatonic state, Xander had sent him to fortify the army and make sure that they were ready for anything.
But now? She’d put it off long enough, and she needed to know. So, with a deep breath, she took the leap and asked, “Did you know?”
There was a smallsqueakas the foot of the chair shifted against the floor, and she cracked her eyes to peer at the man who had been in her life longer than he had been out of it. His eyes held so much sorrow, but it was the hint of guilt that slowly brought her anger back to the surface.
Auraelia sat up and rested her elbows on the table, her fingers steepled in front of her face. The burn from her lightning warmed the tips, and it took immense focus to keep it from forming into ribbons and spiraling around the digits.
Concentrating on the far wall, Auraelia spoke through clenched teeth. “How long?”
